


Otherwise A Peaceful Night

by Lihai



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-14
Updated: 2011-06-14
Packaged: 2017-10-20 10:02:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/211564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lihai/pseuds/Lihai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for SilverWind who won my offer on help-japan. Al and Mei come to visit Resembool, bringing an unexpected news with them. Post-series, some violence.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Otherwise A Peaceful Night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SilverWind](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverWind/gifts).



Over mashed potatoes and beef stew, Al said, "You've grown a beard."

Ed gave him a Look. On the other side of the table, Mei was regaling Winry with descriptions of Xingese automail. Imported contraptions were no longer the fashion, she said, since people now preferred domestic products. Some of the details sailed right over Ed's head, though he knew Winry would explain them to him later, probably at bedtime.

"It suits you," Al went on, popping a morsel of beef into his mouth. "You don't even look like Father at all."

Too lazy to take the bait, Ed raised his eyes toward the second floor. His sons were already in their pajamas when Al and Mei arrived at their doorstep, unannounced, travel-tousled, and beaming. Nothing short of earnest promises, and a subtle threat, of a full day ahead with the guests had managed to persuade them to go to bed. In the morning, they would flat-out refuse to go to school, and together they would cling to Al and Mei like extra shadows, demanding stories and probably souvenirs. Winry might win in the inevitable battle of wills, but barely.

"Oh, Ed," Mei said, interrupting herself in the middle of an explanation about experiments with new types of metals, "thank you once again for having us here on such a short notice."

"No problem," Winry chimed in. "We're thrilled to have you here. It must have been, what, five years, since you were here last?"

"Four years and ten months," Mei agreed. She reached for the pot of jasmine tea she had brewed earlier, and Ed caught an exchange of glances between her and Al. It was nothing more than a quick twitching of the eyelids, but there was no mistaking the urgency. Something was amiss, and they had no idea how to bring it up.

Ed put down his spoon. "What is it?" he asked, relishing this moment of being the older, tactless brother. Next to Mei, Winry tensed. It had not been Ed's own imagination, then. She had also intuited that Al and Mei had never been genuinely relaxed since they entered the house.

Al, too, had stopped eating. "Has there been any news here in Amestris about what's happening in Xing?"

Unlike the case with Hohenheim, Ed's favorite pastimes had never included browsing through newspapers. However, neither did he make a habit out of missing news headlines. "No. What's going on over there?"

Again the exchange of glances. "When Ling was crowned," Al said, "many of the other Houses objected to the decision. Not openly, of course, since the old Emperor still had a lot of power even after he abdicated. But lately his health is failing, and his loyal ministers are getting too old. Members of the other Houses who were still young at the time of the coronation are now grown-ups. They've become more vocal, saying that a single victory in a foreign country does not make Ling the rightful heir to the throne."

This situation was somehow closely related to Al, Mei, or both, otherwise they would not have been so bothered. Possibilities bloomed inside Ed's mind, none of them delightful. "And what else have they been doing, exactly?"

Mei held her teacup tightly between her fists. "Last week the straps on Ling's saddle snapped when he went hunting. Before you ask, the saddle was brand new. After that, his sister found dead flies in her soup. Now the Captain of the Imperial Guard insists that security around Ling should always be double-checked."

From Winry's stunned expression, Ed gathered that the story affected her greatly. He could guess why. "All right, so they hate Ling and his folks. Do they hate you too, or Al?"

This time the looks between Mei and Al were softer, almost making Ed feel as though he were intruding. "Al was Ling's advisor. Well, unofficial advisor. And the House of Chang has been working closely with the House of Yao since Ling and I returned from Amestris. We don't want to be overly suspicious, but since we arrived in Amestris, it feels somebody's been watching us..."

Winry shot to her feet, shoving her chair backward. "Excuse me," she blurted out, and rushed up the stairs.

Without missing a beat, Ed ran after her, his heart rising to his throat. He knew where she was heading: the workshop, there to pick up the spanner she had bought just two days ago. Then she would check on the boys, because Ling's enemies had made it clear that their target included families. And Ed - well, surely his fighting skills had not rusted just because he seldom used them nowadays?

"Niisan - " Al started to call out, then fell silent.

As soon as he reached his sons' room, Ed yanked the door open. Total darkness greeted him, swallowed the beds and everything else inside. Squinting, he put one foot forward, straining to hear past the boys' gentle snores. His thumb flipped on the switch.

John was lying on his side, while Seaton was spread-eagled on the adjacent bed, eyeballs moving rapidly beneath his lids. They were sound asleep, perhaps even having pleasant dreams. For a moment Ed watched them, awash with emotions he would rather not name. He was aware of Winry coming up behind him. She would have the spanner in one hand and hope not to have to use it.

It's fine, he mouthed with half his face turned to her. They're safe. Once again his gaze swept over the desk where the boys kept their schoolbooks and did their homework. Both halves were cluttered, Seaton's less so than his brother's. One book had fallen to the floor and rested at the foot of John's bed. It was probably the grammar book, or -

Ed's heart froze within a numbness that reached down to his stomach.

Beside the fallen book was the tip of a shadow cast by something bigger. It was probably just Ed's overtasked imagination, but -

As he lunged into the room, a much bigger shadow leaped up from the side of the bed and hurled a thin object at him. He managed to duck in time, but not before the wind from the throw brushed against his temple. The shadow, definitely human-shaped, was now moving away from his older son's bed.

Winry! Ed thought, swirling around, for a moment forgetting about the risks. But the object, a small blade, had thunked into the doorjamb and was embedded in it. Winry stood just outside the threshold, wide-eyed, one arm pulled behind her back. For some reason, not seeing the spanner made Ed giddy with apprehension.

He whirled around as the intruder was climbing out of the window. Without pausing to think, Ed sprang after him. Part of his brain understood he was being spectacularly foolish, but the other part kept shouting that he had to make sure the intruder really did make an exit, as opposed to skulking around and waiting for another opportunity.

"Ed, look out!"

A split second before Winry's warning registered in his brain, two things happened at once: Ed's feet braked on their own volition and the second intruder emerged from the space between the boys' beds. An automail arm shout out, thrusting a dagger at Ed. He swung to one side, his hip bumping against the desk. The intruder, all black clothes and white mask, was closing in on him. Ed cursed the inventor of automail with all his might - if that arm were flesh and bone, he could have tried grabbing and spraining it.

Winry was sprinting toward him from the doorway.

Stay away, he wanted to bark, except that a sudden, swelling fear had locked up his vocal chords. Diverted by Winry's approach, the intruder pointed the dagger at her with a menacing gesture. In response, she flung something at him.

The intruder yelped with pain and surprise, hand going to his eyes. The dagger dropped from his fingers. Ed looked on, uncomprehending, then it all clicked into place.

What Winry had in her hand was not a spanner but a bottle of lubricant for oiling automail joints.

Operating purely on reflexes now, Ed seized the intruder's other, natural arm and twisted it forcefully. The intruder keened, staggering, as Ed dragged him out of the room. From the beds came the boys' voices, resentful and thick with sleep.

"It's all right, John, Seaton, everything's all right," Winry replied. "Go back to sleep."

They must have heard the nervousness in her voice, but they did not question her further. She turned off the light and closed the door. Meanwhile, Ed had delivered a blow to the nape of the intruder's neck, and the man crumpled down like a deflated sack. At the same time Winry dropped to the floor, shaking with delayed reaction. The empty bottle slipped from her grasp and rolled away, unheeded.

"Okay?" He stooped in front of her, putting a light hand on her shoulder.

She gulped. "Y-yes. Ed, there were two men in that room. Inside the boys' room!"

"It's okay, it's over." This time he held both her shoulders, and warmly. "Thanks to your fast reaction."

Winry chortled weakly. "Thank goodness I didn't douse you instead. And... oh."

The last bit was directed to Al, who was going up the stairs two steps at a time. "Mei trapped the man who jumped out of the window with rentanjutsu," he reported, sounding out of breath. "I went around the house, didn't see any more of them. She's doing another round right now. Are the kids fine?"

"Yeah." Now that the danger was past, Ed felt light-headed, ready to lift his heels and float. It was the most unsettling sensation. "Thank you, Al."

Al's countenance fell. "I'm very sorry. I shouldn't have come here."

"It's not your fault," Winry stated.

"All the same, if there's a vacant room at the village inn..."

Ed's exasperation finally found a vent. "Don't be an idiot!" he growled. "What the hell difference does it make? It's safer for us if we all stay here. We could even take turns sleeping at the boys' room." He marched up to Al and jabbed a finger at his brother's chest. "Now tell me that makes you feel better."

No one spoke for a full five seconds. Then Al cracked a reluctant smile. "I suppose I can live with that."

"Yeah, you'd better."

"Yes, well. Guess that's all, huh?"

"That is all. Now help me drag this wretch to the tool shed and tie him up nice and proper. Oh, and welcome home."


End file.
